DISCOURSE  A     ^'^ 

(*      MAR  2 

DELIVERED      AT     THE      FUNERAL     \ /v       , ,.^ 

JOHN  MACLEAN,  D.D.,LL.D., 

TENTH    PRESIDENT   OF   THE    COLLEGE   OF    NEW   JERSEY, 


THE  SECOND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 

PRINCETON,  N.  J., 

FRIDAY,  AUGUST   13,    1886, 

BY  • 

JOHN   T.  DUFFIELD,  D.D. 


A  MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED    IN 

THE  MARQUAND  CHAPEL  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  NEW  JERSEY 

ON 

The  Evening  of  Baccalaureate  Sunday, 
JUNE  19,  1887, 

BY 

JAMES  M.  LUDLOW,  D.D. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST  OF  THE  TRUSTEES. 


€^t  Jrinccton  gress. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE. 


The  Rev.  John  Maclean,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Tenth  Presi- 
dent of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  died  at  his  residence  in 
Princeton,  N.  J.,  on  Tuesday,  Aug.  lo,  1886.  The  funeral 
services  were  held  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  on 
Friday  afternoon,  Aug.  13,  President  Maclean  having  been 
connected  with  the  Second  Church  since  its  organization. 
The  exercises  were  conducted  by  the  Pastor,  the  Rev. 
Lewis  W.  Mudge,  D.D.  The  Rev.  James  O.  Murray,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  the  College,  offered  the 
opening  prayer.  Select  portions  of  Scripture  were  read  by 
Prof.  Henry  C.  Cameron,  D.D.  The  funeral  Discourse  was 
delivered  by  Prof.  John  T.  Duffield,  D.D.,  followed  by 
a  brief  Address  by  Prof.  James  C.  Moffat,  D.D.  The 
closing  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Archibald  Alexan- 
der Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  and  the  benediction  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  Rev.  David  Magie,  D.D.,  of  Paterson,  N. 
J.  The  following  gentlemen  were  pall-bearers  :  Samuel  H. 
Pennington,  M.D.,  and  the  Rev.  E.  R.  Craven,  D.D.,  Trus- 
tees of  the  College,  Prof.  Wm.  Henry  Green,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Prof  J.  S.  Schanck,  M.D., 
LL.D.,  of  the  College,  the  Rev  Amzi  L.  Armstrong,  and 
the  Rev.  J.  A.  Worden,  D.D.,  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick,  Mr.  James  Vandeventer  of  Princeton,  and  the 
Hon.  Wm.  J.  Magie,  Justice  ol  the  Supreme  Court  of  New 
Jersey. 

The  Trustees  of  the  College  requested  the  Faculty  to 
make  arrangements  for  a  Memorial  service  in  the  College 
Chapel  on  the  evening  of  Baccalaureate  Sunday.  By  invi- 
tation of  the  Faculty  the  Address  was  delivered  by  the 
Rev.  James  M.  Ludlow,  D.D.,  of  East  Orange,  N.  J. 


DISCOURSE 


OF 


THE  REV.  JOHN  T.  DUFFIELD,  D.D., 

Professor  in  the  College  of  Ne-^  Jersey. 


DISCOURSE. 


If  this  were  an  occasion  for  grieving  my  place 
would  be  with  the  mourners.  On  Tuesday  morning 
last  when  with  his  immediate  relatives  and  one  of 
my  colleagues  I  sat  at  the  bedside  of  Dr.  Maclean 
and  felt  that  hand  which  so  often  had  extended  to 
me  a  warm  greeting  grow  cold  in  my  grasp  and  the 
pulses  become  fainter  and  fainter  until  the  heart 
ceased  to  beat,  I  felt  that  I  had  lost  my  best  earthly 
friend.  I  have  received  many  blessings  from  our 
heavenly  Father  which  call  for  thankfulness,  but  I 
feel  that  I  have  special  reason  for  gratitude  to  God 
that  for  near  fifty  years  of  life's  pilgrimage,  it  has 
been  my  privilege  to  enjoy  the  acquaintance,  and 
for  more  than  forty  years  the  intimate  personal 
friendship,  of  John  Maclean.  Were  this  an  occasion 
for  mourning  I  should  not  occupy  the  place  I  do  to-day. 
But  who  does  not  feel  that  the  circumstances  under 
which  we  are  assembled  call  not  for  grieving 
but  thanksgiving — thanks,  not  that  John  Maclean 
is  dead  but  that  he  lived ;    thanks,    that   in    early 


8 

youth  he  became  a  follower  of  Christ  and  hence- 
forth to  its  close  his  life  was  an  epistle  of  god- 
liness known  and  read  of  men  ;  thanks,  that  he  was 
so  endowed  by  nature  and  by  grace  that  upon  all 
with  whom  he  was  associated  his  influence  was  a 
benediction  ;  thanks,  that  he  had  granted  to  him  not 
only  wisdom  but  wisdom's  "right-hand"  blessing, 
"length  of  days;"  thanks,  that  though  "by  reason 
of  strength"  his  life  was  extended  to  more  than 
fourscore  years,  that  strength  was  7iot  "labor  and 
sorrow;"  thanks,  that  with  faculties  unimpaired,  in 
old  age  he  brought  forth  fruit;  thanks,  that  he 
passed  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
without  fear  of  evil,  that  his  end  was  peace  and  his 
death  a  victory. 

When  I  look  on  this  casket  w^hich  contains  all 
that  was  mortal  of  President  Maclean,  and  think  of 
the  grand  life  that  ended  when  he  ceased  to  breathe, 
I  feel  that  without  anticipating  the  time  when  "  this 
mortal  shall  put  on  immortality  "  we  may  appropri 
ate  the  exclamation,  "  O  grave !  where  is  thy  vie 
tor>'  ?  " 

Except  in  the  prospect  of  the  resurrection  of 
those  who  sleep  in  Jesus,  we  seldom  dare  to  utter 
this  triumphant  challenge  of  the  apostle.  Often 
the  fatal  summons  comes  to  those  who  are  in 
the  morning  of  life,  full  of  bright  hopes  and 
fond  anticipations,  the  centre  of  a  circle  of  loving 


and  admiring  friends,  at  the  age  when  Hfe  is  sweet- 
est, when  the  ties  which  bind  to  earth  are  strongest, 
when  the  youthful  spirit  bouyant  with  joy  and  joyous 
hopes  was  beginning  to  wonder  why  this  world 
should  ever  have  been  called  "  a  vale  of  tears  " — at 
such  a  time  has  the  summons  come  and  given 
another  illustration  of  the  sad  truth  which  youthful 
inexperience  had  begun  to  doubt — and  as  we  com- 
mitted to  the  tomb  the  remains  of  those  thus  prema- 
turely smitten,  we  have  felt  that  the  grave  had  had 
a  victory.  Often  has  the  fatal  summons  come 
to  those  in  the  prime  of  manhood,  who  had 
advanced  on  their  career  only  to  be  stopped  at  the 
middle  of  the  course,  engaged  in  the  battle  of  life 
only  to  fall  when  the  battle  was  at  its  height — at  a 
time  when  life's  duties  were  most  urgent,  when 
loved  ones  were  most  dependent,  when  influence 
was  most  far-reaching  and  cherished  schemes  but 
half-completed — at  such  a  time  has  the  summons  come 
reminding  us  that  "  man  at  his  best  state  is  vanity" 
— and,  as  we  committed  to  the  tomb  the  remains  of 
those  who  were  smitten  so  untimely,  we  felt  that 
the  grave  had  had  the  victory  and  that  a  broken  shaft 
was  the  monument  appropriate  to  their  last  resting 
place.  But  who  would  think  of  erecting  a  broken 
shaft  over  the  grave  of  John  Maclean  ?  Thanks  be 
to  God,  to-day  we  are  permitted  to  carry  to  yonder 
cemetery  the  precious  remains  of  one  whose  career 


lO 

did  not  terminate  until  he  had  reached  the  goal, 
whose  labors  did  not  cease  until  he  had  accom- 
plished the  work  that  had  been  given  him  to  do. 
whose  life  did  not  end  until  its  full  term  was  com- 
pleted— to  whom  death  came  not  as  an  abnormal 
untimely  catastrophe,  but  the  normal  ending  of  a 
finished  course,  a  transition  from  the  sphere  of 
service  when  the  work  prescribed  was  done,  to  the 
sphere  of  the  faithful  servant's  reward.  When  we 
contemplate  such  a  life  and  such  a  death  as  this, 
without  anticipating  the  hour  when  this  mortal  shall 
put  on  immortality,  we  may  triumphantly  ask,  "  O 
grave  !  where  is  thy  victory  ?  "  When  grain  ripe 
for  the  sickle  is  harvested  and  the  wheat  gathered 
into  the  garner,  the  preserver,  not  the  destroyer, 
has  the  victory. 

John  Maclean  was  born  in  Princeton,  March  3d, 
1800,  in  the  brick  house  on  the  north  side  of  Nassau 
street,  immediately  opposite  the  School  of  Science 
building.  He  was  descended  from  an  honorable 
ancestry  both  on  his  father's  and  mother's  side,  the 
genealogical  record  of  each  family  extending  back 
for  centuries  and  including  many  distinguished 
names.  His  father,  Professor  John  Maclean,  M.D., 
was  a  native  of  Glasgow.  At  the  early  age  of  sixteen 
he  was  graduated  at  the  University  of  that  city  with 
high  honor  and  early  attained  distinction  by  original 
researches    in    Chemistry — a   science    then    in    its 


II 


infancy.  After  completing  a  course  of  Medical  Lec- 
tures at  Glasgow,  he  attended  Lectures  on  his  fav- 
orite studies — Chemistry  and  Surgery — at  Edin- 
burgh, London  and  Paris.  He  for  a  time  engaged 
with  much  success  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  his  native  city,  at  the  same  time  continuing  his 
researches  in  Chemistry.  Preferring  our  Republican 
form  of  government  and  believing  that  in  the  United 
States  he  would  have  a  wider  field  of  usefulness, 
he  came  to  America,  arriving  in  New  York  in  April, 
1795.  At  the  ensuing  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  and 
Natural  Philosophy.  By  his  acceptance  of  this 
appointment  Chemistry  for  the  first  time  became  one 
of  the  studies  of  an  American  College  curriculum. 
In  an  account  of  a  visit  to  Princeton  in  1801,  Dr. 
Archibald  Alexander  refers  to  Professor  Maclean 
as  *'  one  of  the  most  popular  Professors  who  ever 
graced  an  American^  College."  He  was  at  home 
almost  equally  in  all  branches  of  science.  In  the 
diary  of  Yale's  distinguished  Professor  of  Chemistry, 
the  late  Benjamin  Silliman,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  there  is 
the  following  record :  ''Brief  residence  in  Princeton. — 
At  this  celebrated  seat  of  learning  an  eminent  gentle- 
man. Dr.  John  Maclean,  resided  as  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry. I  passed  a  few  days  with  Dr.  Maclean  and 
obtained  from  him  a  general  insight  into  my  future 
occupation.       I  regard  him  as  my  earliest  master 


12 

in  Chemistry  aiul  Princeton  as  my  starting  point 
in  that  pursuit." 

I'rofessor  Maclean  was  married  in  1 798  to  Phoebe 
Bainbridge,  daughter  ol  Absalom  Bainbridge,  M.D. 
of  New  York  City  and  sister  of  the  distinguished 
naval  hero,  Commodore  William  Bainbridge.  She 
was  a  lady  of  rare  loveliness  both  of  person  and  of 
character.  Professor  Silliman  refers  to  her  in  his 
diary  as  "  a  lovely  woman,  who  made  my  visits  to 
the  house  very  pleasant  to  me."  John  Maclean 
inherited  in  larcre  measure  his  father's  intellectual 
ability  and  his  mother's  loveliness  of  character. 
When  but  thirteen  years  of  age  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Freshman  Class  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Second  Term,  and  was  graduated  with  honor  in 
181 6 — the  youngest  member  of  his  Class. 

In  the  winter  of  18 14-15  a  revival  of  religion 
occurred,  in  some  respects  the  most  memorable  in 
the  history  of  the  College,  resulting  in  the  conversion 
of  a  large  number  of  students,  many  of  whom  sub- 
sequendy  became  eminent  in  the  Church  —  Dr. 
Charles  Hodge,  Bishop  Johns,  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  Dr. 
Wm.  J.  Armstrong,  Dr.  Ravaud  K.  Rodgers,  Dr. 
Symmes  C.  Henry,  Dr.  Charles  S.  Stewart  and 
others.  John  Maclean,  then  a  Junior  in  Colleo-e, 
did  not  manifest  any  interest  on  the  subject  of  relio-ion 
until  one  day  a  friend,  Edward  Allen,  said  to  him, 
•'  Maclean,  have  you  heard  the  news  ? "  "  What  news ? " 


13 

he  asked.  Allen  replied,  *'  Hodge  and  Vandyke 
have  enlisted."  He  was  for  the  moment  startled  by 
the  statement  as  there  was  at  that  time  in  Princeton 
an  officer  engaged  in  obtaining  recruits  for  the  army. 
After  a  brief  pause  Allen  added,  "  They  have  enlisted 
under  the  banner  of  King  Jesus."  Maclean  replied, 
**  Well,  that  was  the  best  enlistment  they  could  have 
made,"  and  was  about  to  leave  the  room.  His  friend 
requested  him  to  remain  and  then  spoke  to  him  of  the 
importance  of  personal  religion  and  urged  him  to  give 
the  subject  immediate  attention.  The  result  was  the 
conviction  that  he  ought  to  do  so  and  he  at  once 
began  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  with  prayer  that 
he  might  be  enabled  to  make  them  the  rule  of  his 
conduct.  He  was  soon  led  to  trust  in  Christ  as  his 
Saviour  but  did  not  make  a  public  profession  of 
his  faith  until  after  his  graduation. 

During  the  following  year  he  was  engaged  as  an 
Assistant  Teacher  in  the  Classical  School  which  had 
recently  been  established  at  Lawrenceville  by  the 
Rev.  Isaac  V.  Brown.  In  the  fall  of  1818  he  entered 
the  Theological  Seminary  and  shortly  after  was 
elected  Tutor  in  Greek  in  the  College.  On  the 
resignation  of  Professor  Vethake  in  182 1  he  took 
charge  of  the  Classes  in  Mathematics  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  appointed  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  Natural  Philosophy.  The  same  year  he  declined 
an  invitation  to  the  Professorship  of  Mathematics  in 


Dickinson  College.  In  1829  he  was  elected  Vice- 
President  ot"  the  College  and  Professor  of  the  Ancient 
Languages.  He  had  charge  of  both  the  Latin  and 
Greek  Departments  until  1836,  when  the  increase  in 
the  number  of  students  rendered  it  necessary  that 
the  Professorship  should  be  divided.  Prof.  James 
\V.  Alexander  was  accordingly  appointed  Professor 
of  Latin  and  Dr.  Maclean  Professor  of  the  Greek 
Language  and  Literature.  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  in  June,  1853,  Dr.  Carnahan 
presented  his  resignation  of  the  Presidency.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  Board  in  December,  Dr.  Maclean 
was  elected  President  of  the  College  and  was  inaug- 
urated at  the  Commencement  in  1S54.  In  1868,  in 
pursuance  of  a  purpose  he  had  several  years  pre- 
viously formed,  he  resigned  the  Presidency,  having 
completed  half  a  century  in  the  service  of  the  Col- 
lege. 

The  simple  fact  that  Dr.  Maclean  should  have 
filled  in  succession  these  different  positions  accept- 
ably and  successfully  is  evidence  of  his  eminent  and 
varied  ability  ;  yet  of  itself  it  would  give  a  very  inade- 
quate impression  of  the  extent  and  value  of  the  ser- 
vices he  rendered  to  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 
Without  any  disparagement  to  those  associated  with 
him  in  the  instruction  and  government  of  the  College 
it  may  be  said  that  during  almost  the  entire  period 
of  his  official  connexion  with  the  College  he  was  the 


15 

ruling  spirit  in  the  administration  of  its  affairs.  He 
was  a  born  leader  of  men.  He  combined  those 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  and  character  which  win 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  others,  and  give  to 
their  possessor  commanding  influence.  He  was  wise 
in  counsel,  prompt  in  decision,  energetic  in  action, 
fertile  in  resource,  tenacious  in  purpose  and  know- 
ing no  fear  but  the  fear  of  God.  He  had  in  him 
much  of  the  stuff  that  martyrs  are  made  of  and 
would  have  gone  to  the  stake  for  a  principle — at  the 
same  time  was  charitable  toward  those  who  differed 
from  him,  scrupulously  considerate  not  only  of  the 
rights  but  the  feelings  of  others,  courteous  not  by 
rule  but  by  instinct,  of  tender  sympathy  and  generous 
impulses,  a  high-minded,  honorable.  Christian  gen- 
tleman. 

In  1828-9  the  College  passed  through  a  crisis 
that  for  a  time  threatened  its  very  existence.  Owing 
to  an  unfortunate  if  not  injudicious  exercise  of  disci- 
pline in  1824 — which  it  is  proper  to  say  was  not 
approved  of  though  acquiesced  in  by  Dr.  Carnahan 
who  had  recently  entered  on  his  duties  as  President — 
upwards  of  twenty  students  were  removed  or  with- 
drawn from  the  Institution.  The  impression  made 
on  the  public  was  unfavorable  and  the  number  of 
students  still  further  declined,  until  in  1827  there 
were  but  seventy-five  enrolled.  As  the  College  was 
almost  entirely  dependent  on  the  receipts  for  tuition 


i6 

and  room-rent,  it  became  greatly  crippled  financially. 
Hoping  to  increase  thereby  the  number  of  students 
the  charge  for  tuition  was  reduced.  The  result  was 
a  still  further  diminution  of  income  and  a  reduction 
of  salaries  became  necessary.  Two  of  the  three 
Professors  resigned.  One  of  them,  the  Professor  of 
Ancient  Languages,  opened  a  Classical  Academy, 
"The  Edorehill  School,"  in  Princeton.  Professor 
Maclean's  talents,  temperament  and  loyalty  to  his 
Alma  Mater  were  just  what  was  needed  fpr  such  a 
crisis.  Instead  of  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  dis- 
couraging circumstances,  he  devised  a  scheme  for 
not  only  filling  the  vacancies  but  increasing  the 
Faculty,  and  this  without  increasing  the  current 
expenses.  With  characteristic  magnanimity  and  a 
self-reliance  which  was  justified  by  the  results,  he 
proposed  to  give  up  the  Professorship  which  for 
seven  years  he  had  filled  with  ability  and  success 
and  take  charge  of  the  Department  of  Ancient  Lan- 
guages ;  that  Professor  Vethake,  who  was  then  in 
Europe  engaged  in  scientific  studies,  should  be 
appointed  to  his  former  Professorship;  that  Albert  B. 
Dod,  who  as  Tutor  in  Mathematics  gave  promise  of 
his  subsequent  brilliant  professorial  career,  should 
be  appointed  Assistant  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  Natural  Philosophy,  to  take  charge  of  the 
Department  until  the  return  of  Professor  Vethake  ; 
that  the  distinguished  scientist  Dr.  John  Torrey  of 


17 

New  York,  should  be  appointed  to  give  an  annual 
course  of  Lectures  at  the  College  on  Chemistry,  and 
that  an  Instructor  in  French  should  be  appointed. 
The  scheme  was  approvedby  President  Carnahan,  was 
submitted  by  him  to  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  was 
adopted.  As  an  evidence  of  their  high  appreciation  of 
the  abilities  and  services  of  Professor  Maclean,  the 
Trustees  of  their  own  motion,  probably  at  the  sug- 
gestion, certainly  with  the  cordial  approval,  of  Pres- 
ident Carnahan  appointed  Professor  Maclean  Vice- 
President  of  the  College. 

The  reconstruction  of  the  Faculty  was  received 
with  general  favor.  The  number  of  students  imme- 
diately increased  and  was  promptly  followed  by  an 
increase  of  the  Faculty.  In  1830  Joseph  Addison 
Alexander  was  appointed  Assistant  Professor  of  the 
Ancient  Languages  and  Dr.  Howell  Lecturer  on 
Anatomy  and  Physiology.  In  1833,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  Dr.  Maclean,  Joseph  Henry  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  entered  on  that 
life-work  which  has  made  his  name  and  that  of  the 
Institutions  with  which  he  has  been  connected,  illus- 
trious. In  1834,  the  scholarly  and  eloquent  James 
W.  Alexander,  D.D.,  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Belles  Lettres  and  subsequently  Professor  of  Belles 
Lettres  and  Latin.  The  same  year  Stephen  Alexan- 
der was  appointed  Tutor  in  Mathematics — the  begin- 
ning of  his  distinguished  career  as  a  Mathematician 


and  Astronomer.  By  these  valuable  accessions  to  the 
Faculty,  the  prosperity  of  the  College  was  perma- 
nently secured.  At  the  close  of  President  Carna- 
han's  administration  in  1S54,  the  number  of  students 
had  increased  to  two  hundred  and  forty-seven.  In 
1 86 1  the  number  of  students  had  increased  to  three 
hundred  and  fourteen,  the  graduating  classes  for 
several  years  numbering  near  ninety.  By  the  out- 
break of  the  war  the  number  of  students  was  reduced 
to  two  hundred  and  twelve,  but  at  the  close  of  Pres- 
ident Maclean's  administration  in  1868  the  number 
had  increased  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-four,  and  the 
accession  the  last  year  of  his  Administration  was  one 
hundred  and  seventeen,  the  largest,  up  to  that 
period,  in  the  history  of  the  College. 

President  Maclean's  administration  marks  a  new 
era  in  the  financial  condition  of  the  College.  Efforts 
had  previously  been  made  to  secure  an  Endowment 
Fund — in  1825  by  the  Alumni  Association,  in  '30  by 
the  Trustees,  and  again  in  '35  by  the  Alumni — but 
these  efforts  were  almost  wholly  unsuccessful.  In 
1853,  when  President  Carnahan  presented  his  resig- 
nation, the  permanent  funds  of  the  College  did  not 
exceed  $1 5,000.  At  the  close  of  President  Maclean's 
administration  in  '68,  the  permanent  funds  amounted 
to  a  quarter  of  a  million.  The  College  had  also 
received  large  gifts  for  grounds,  buildings  and  special 
expenses — the  ground  for  the  Observatory  with  the 


^9 

first  payment  for  the  building  of  $10,000  from  Gen. 
N.  N.  Halsted,  the  ground  for  Dickinson  Hall  and 
$100,000  from  Mr.  John  C.  Green,  the  property  of 
Doct.John  N.Woodhull  by  bequest,  contributions  for 
the  rebuilding  of  Nassau  Hall  after  the  fire  of  1854 
and  for  other  special  objects.  Several  bequests  to  the 
College  made  previous  to  1868  were  subsequently 
paid.  Without  including  these  bequests,  the  aggre- 
gate of  gifts  to  the  College  during  President  Maclean's 
administration  was  about  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  The  College  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated that  these  large  gifts  have  been  so  far  sur- 
passed during  the  brilliant  administration  of  his 
illustrious  successor,  but  it  is  no  extravagant  eulogy 
to  say,  that  on  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency,  of 
all  the  names  enrolled  on  the  General  Catalogue  of 
the  College  as  Alumni,  Professors,  Trustees  and 
Presidents,  there  is  no  one  to  whom  the  Institution  is 
more  largely  indebted  for  its  established  prosperity 
than  to  John  Maclean. 

The  personal  relations  of  Dr.  Maclean  and  his 
venerated  predecessor  were  alike  creditable  to  both 
these  distinguished  men.  Though  quite  different  in 
temperament  and  through  almost  the  entire  period 
of  President  Carnahan's  administration  sustaining: 
to  each  other  a  somewhat  delicate  official  relation, 
their  intercourse  was  never  marred  by  the  slightest 
jealousy  or  other  unpleasant  feeling.     With  a  high 


20 

appreciation  of  each  other's  abiHty  and  discretion, 
and  with  impHcit  confidence  in  each  other's  disinter- 
ested devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  college,  they 
were  confidential  friends.  No  important  action  was 
taken  by  either  without  consultation  with  and  the 
approval  of  the  other.  In  his  letter  of  resignation 
President  Carnahan  refers  to  his  esteemed  colleague 
who  had  been  associated  with  him  throughout  his 
entire  administration.  "To  his  activity,  zeal,  and 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  College,"  he  says, 
"  I  must  be  permitted  to  give  my  unqualified  testi- 
mony." Subsequently  as  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  he  cordially  favored  the  appointment  of 
Dr.  Maclean  as  his  successor.  It  was  an  interesting, 
and  to  President  Maclean  an  especially  gratifying, 
incident,  that  his  first  official  act  after  his  inaugura- 
tion was  the  announcement  that  the  Trustees  had 
conferred  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  on  the 
friend  with  whom  he  had  been  so  long  and  intimately 
and  pleasantly  associated. 

In  regard  to  the  choice  of  a  successor  to  Presi- 
ident  Carnahan  it  may  be  proper  to  mention  that  in 
view  of  his  world-wide  reputation,  his  administrative 
ability  and  his  high  Christian  character,  some  of  the 
Trustees  favored  the  election  of  Professor  Henry, 
who  in  1848  had  resigned  his  Professorship  at 
Princeton  to  accept  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution.     When  the  matter  was  proposed 


21 

to  Professor  Henry  he  was  unwilling  to  be  regarded 
as  a  candidate,  and  recommended  the  election  of  his 
friend  Vice-President  Maclean.  He  subsequently 
showed  his  esteem  for  Dr.  Maclean  by  having  him 
appointed  one  of  the  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution. 

With  no  less  truth  than  when  the  words  were 
originally  uttered,  it  may  be  said  to-day,  "  a  Prince 
and  a  great  man  has  fallen  in  Israel."  John  Maclean 
was  one  of  nature's  noblemen,  richly  endowed  with 
princely  gifts  and  virtues.  He  was  a  great  man  intel- 
lectually. That  abnormal  development  of  healthy  brain 
was  the  organ  of  an  intellect  exceptionally  vigorous  by 
nature,  and  strengthened  and  developed  by  faithful 
culture.  He  was  a  man  of  broad  scholarship.  Whilst 
making  little  pretension  to  what  may  be  called  the 
ornamental  branches  of  a  liberal  education,  he  was 
proficient  in  the  branches  that  are  fundamental.  Few 
Presidents  of  American  Colleges  have  been  ready 
as  was  he,  in  an  emergency,  to  take  charge  of  the 
instruction  in  most  of  the  studies  of  the  curriculum. 
Up  to  the  close  of  life  it  was  his  daily  habit  to  read 
the  Scriptures  in  the  original.  He  was  one  of  that 
company  of  Christian  scholars  who,  by  their  services 
in  the  Institutions  of  this  place  and  their  contribu- 
tions to  the  old  "  Princeton  Review,"  made  the  name 
of  Princeton  illustrious  throughout  evangelical 
Christendom. 


22 

In  the  discussion  of  the  important  questions 
which  agitated  the  Presbyterian  Church  a  half  cen- 
tury ago,  Dr.  Maclean  took  a  prominent  part.  He 
published  a  series  of  letters  in  "The  Presbyterian," 
which  were  afterwards  republished  in  pamphlet  form, 
defending  with  marked  ability  the  action  of  the 
Assembly  of  '37  on  the  questions  at  issue  between 
the  Old  and  New  School  branches  of  the  Church. 
He  represented  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick 
in  the  important  Assembly  of  '^,8^  when  the  division 
of  the  Church  occurred,  and  was  appointed  to  pre- 
pare a  Circular  Letter  to  Foreign  Evangelical 
Churches,  on  the  issues  which  led  to  the  division. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of  1843 
and  again  of  the  Assembly  of  1844,  ^t  both  which 
important  questions  as  to  the  functions  of  the  office 
of  Ruling  Elder  were  decided — questions  which  for 
several  years  previous  had  been  discussed  in  the 
religious  periodicals  and  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts. 
The  eminent  ability  with  which  Dr.  Maclean  defended 
the  views  of  the  majority  was  recognized  in  each 
Assembly  by  his  appointment  to  prepare  a  reply  to 
the  protest  of  the  minority. 

Dr.  Maclean's  most  notable  contributions  to  the 
Review  were  two  articles  in  '41,  in  reply  to  two  Prize 
Essays  that  had  recently  been  published  in  Great 
Britain  and  afterwards  in  this  country  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  National  Temperance  Society,  maintain- 


23 

ing  the  duty  of  total  abstinence  on  the  ground  that 
the  Scriptures  condemned  all  use  of  intoxicating 
drinks  and  that  the  ''  wine  "  whose  use  was  not  for- 
bidden in  the  Scriptures  and  which  was  used  by  the 
Saviour  in  instituting  the  Sacrament  of  the  Supper 
was  *'  the  unfermented  juice  of  the  grape."  No 
more  exhaustive  and  conclusive  argument  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  doctrine  of  these  Essays  has  ever  been 
published.  The  articles  attracted  much  attention 
both  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain  and  secured 
for  their  author  a  high  reputation  for  classical,  bib- 
lical and  patristic  scholarship. 

In  1873  he  published  in  the  Review  a  valua- 
ble exegetical  article  on  the  Harmony  of  the  dif- 
ferent accounts  of  Christ's  Resurrection,  in  which  he 
shows  even  in  old  age,  familiarity  with  a  somewhat 
abstruse  branch  of  Mathematics — the  Doctrine  of 
Probabilities — proving  thereby  the  credibility  of  the 
different  narratives  by  their  evidently  undesigned 
agreement  in  so  many  different  particulars. 

The  State  of  New  Jersey  is  largely  indebted  to 
Dr.  Maclean  for  her  present  Common  School  sys- 
tem. He  was  one  of  its  earliest  and  ablest  advocates. 
He  read  a  paper  on  the  subject  before  "the  New  Jer- 
sey Literary  and  Philosophical  Society"  in  1829, 
which  was  afterwards  printed  and  widely  circulated, 
and  in  1833  published  an  article  on  **  Common 
Schools  "  in  the  Princeton  Review. 


24 

After  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency,  his 
Hfe-work  was  fitly  crowned  by  preparing  for  the 
press  a  History  of  the  College  from  its  origin  to  the 
close  of  President  Carnahan's  administration — the 
Preface  containing  many  important  facts  in  connex- 
ion with  his  own  administration.  The  work  is 
admirable  for  the  exhaustive  extent  and  minute 
accuracy  of  its  information,  gleaned  from  every  avail- 
able record  and  document  and  supplemented  from 
the  stores  of  his  wonderful  memory.  It  contains 
judicious  discussions  of  questions  pertaining  to  the 
instruction  and  government  of  the  College,  and 
interesting  biographical  sketches  of  that  remarkable 
succession  of  distinguished  men  who  had  preceded 
him  in  the  Presidency.  Having  completed  this  labor 
of  love,  with  characteristic  generosity  he  gave  the 
manuscript  to  an  Association  which  he  had  been 
instrumental  in  organizing,  after  his  official  connexion 
with  the  College  had  terminated,  to  aid  worthy  stu- 
dents in  the  College  needing  assistance. 

President  Maclean  was  a  great  man  intellectually 
— he  was  greater  morally — greater  in  the  elements  of 
a  noble,  manly,  lovely  character.  It  was  for  grandeur 
of  soul,  rather  than  of  intellect,  that  he  was  spoken 
of  as  "  a  grand  old  man."  He  had  an  abnormally 
large  brain,  he  had  a  larger  heart.  It  was  this  large- 
heartedness  that  made  him  so  loving  and  so  lovable 
— it  was  this  that  so  endeared  him  to  his  pupils  and 


25 

to  all  with  whom  he  was  associated,  that  on  the  day 
when  he  resio^ned  the  seals  of  the  Presidential 
Office,  it  was  said  by  one  not  given  to  extravagant 
expression,  that  "  John  Maclean  was  the  most  loved 
man  in  America."  The  luxury  he  most  indulged  in 
was  "  the  luxury  of  doing  good."  To  promote  the 
happiness  of  others  was  the  ruling  principle,  the 
passion  of  his  life.  His  ready  sympathy  and  his 
generosity  attracted  to  him  those  who  were  in 
trouble,  and  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  it  was 
ever  a  pleasure  to  minister  aid  and  comfort. 
He  was  "given  to  hospitality,"  not  because  it  was 
a  commanded  duty  but  from  the  impulse  of  a 
generous  nature,  and  his  cordial  welcome,  his 
genial  manner  and  his  unaffected  courtesy  made 
every  one,  friend  or  stranger,  who  entered  his  hos- 
pitable mansion,  feel  at  home.  He  was  not  only 
unselfish  but  self-sacrificing  in  efforts  to  promote 
the  happiness  and  the  welfare  of  others.  He 
repeatedly  had  sick  students  brought  to  his  house 
that  he  might  be  assured  they  would  be  properly 
cared  for,  and  that  he  might  personally  minister  to 
their  comfort.  A  few  years  ago  an  incident  acci- 
dentally came  to  my  knowledge  that  until  to-day  I 
have  not  felt  at  liberty  to  mention  publicly.  I  met 
him  one  day  on  the  sidewalk  near  my  house  with  a 
small  package  in  his  hand  and  walking  rather  briskly 
toward  the  railroad  station.     I  asked,  "  which  way  are 


26 

you  going?"  With  some  hesitation, and  blushing, as  if 
he  would  have  preferred  that  his  object  should  not 
have  been  known,  he  replied,  ''  I  met  on  the  street 
a  few  moments  ago  a  colored  man — a  stranger — 
who  appeared  to  be  unwell.  On  inquiry  I  learned 
that  he  was  in  feeble  health  and  was  on  his  way  from 
Trenton  to  New  Brunswick,  where  he  had  friends. 
I  asked  him  why  he  did  not  go  in  the  cars  ?  He 
said  he  had  no  money.  I  gave  him  enough  to  pay 
his  fare  and  directed  him  to  the  station.  After  leav- 
ing him  it  crossed  my  mind  that  he  had  probably 
had  nothing  to  eat  since  leaving  Trenton  and  was 
faint  from  hunger,  so  I  went  to  the  baker's  and 
bought  a  loaf  of  bread  which  I  am  taking  to  him," — 
and  he  passed  on  on  his  errand  of  mercy.  I  thought 
of  Him,  who  when  on  earth  "went  about  doing 
good,"  who  washed  His  disciples'  feet,  saying,  "  I 
have  given  you  an  example  that  ye  should  do  as  I 
have  done  to  you,"  and  when  I  saw  the  venerable 
Ex-President  of  the  College  becoming  a  poor  col- 
ored man's  servant,  and  this  without  solicitation — 
ministering  personally  to  a  stranger  who  had  no 
other  claim  than  that  he  was  needy  and  friendless — 
I  felt  that  it  was  the  most  Christ-like  act  I  had  ever 
witnessed.  Yet  this  was  characteristic  of  the  man. 
Estimated  by  the  divine  standard,  "  he  that  would 
be  great  among  you  let  him  be  your  minister,  and 
he  that  would  be  chief  let  him  be  the  servant  of  all," 
John  Maclean  was  the  greatest  man  I  ever  knew. 


27 

Any  portraiture  of  Dr.  Maclean's  character 
would  be  defective  that  did  not  give  prominence  to 
his  piety.  He  was  a  truly  great  man  because  he 
was  "  a  good  man,  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  He  was  endowed  by  nature  with  the  traits 
of  a  noble  character,  but  these  natural  endowments 
would  never  have  made  him  *'  the  grand  old  man  " 
he  was,  had  they  not  been  sanctified  by  grace. 
That  rare  combination  in  him  of  manliness  and  love- 
liness was  an  illustration  of  the  spiritual  meaning  of 
the  declaration  of  the  Psalmist,  ''  strength  and 
beauty  are  in  Thy  sanctuary."  From  the  time  he 
**  enlisted "  in  Christ's  service,  seventy  years  ago, 
until  his  earthly  course  on  Tuesday  last  was  finished, 
he  was  a  loyal  soldier,  a  good  and  faithful  servant 
of  Jesus  Christ.  His  single  aim  in  all  things,  was  to 
know  his  Master's  will  and  do  it.  He  was  not  only 
a  diligent  student  of  God's  Word  but  made  that 
Word  the  rule  of  all  his  conduct  and  the  glor>^  of 
God  the  chief  end  of  his  life.  Scrupulously  faithful 
in  the  discharge  of  every  personal  and  official  duty, 
he  was  earnest  and  unwearied  in  effort  for  the  spir- 
itual welfare  of  others.  As  a  member  of  the 
Faculty  he  was  not  only  regular  in  attendance  on 
all  the  ordinary  religious  exercises  of  the  College 
but  conducted  a  special  half-hour  service  in  one  of 
the  recitation  rooms,  four  evenings  of  every  week  of 
term-time,  for  many  years.     When  he  became  Pres- 


28 

Ident,  in  addition  to  the  accustomed  Biblical  Instruc- 
tion on  the  Sabbath  he  took  charge  of  one  exercise  a 
week  in  religious  Instruction  \^Ith  each  one  of  the 
Classes.  In  his  Inaugural  Address  he  emphasized 
the  fact  that  the  College  of  New  Jersey  was  founded 
to  promote  religion  as  well  as  learning,  and  he 
was  "  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  "  In  labors 
and  in  prayers  that  this  end  might  be  fulfilled. 
Steadfast,  unmoveable,  always  abounding  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  his  labor  was  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 
From  his  election  to  the  Vice-Presidency  until  the 
close  of  his  official  connexion  with  the  College 
scarcely  a  Class  was  graduated  that  had  not  passed 
through  a  season  of  special  religious  interest  and 
that  did  not  contain  a  number  who  had  been  hope- 
fully converted  in  College.  His  religious  activity 
was  not  confined  to  the  College.  He  was  "  ready 
unto  every  good  word  and  work."  He  took  an 
active  interest  in  the  welfare  of  our  colored  popula- 
tion and  was  their  trusted  counsellor,  their  steadfast 
friend  and  generous  benefactor.  It  was  mainly 
through  his  instrumentality  that  the  WItherspoon 
St.  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  and  their 
house  of  worship  erected.  Some  forty  years  ago, 
when  the  interests  of  Presbyterianism  in  Princeton 
seemed  to  demand  a  second  Church,  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  those  immediately  Interested  and  with  the 
cordial  approval  of  his  brethren,  Including  the  pas- 


29 

tor  of  the  First  Church,  Dr.  Maclean  took  charge  of 
the  enterprise.  By  his  energy  and  HberaHty  he 
contributed  so  largely  to  the  success  of  the  effort 
that  for  many  years  our  Church  was  known  as  "  Dr. 
Maclean's  Church."  After  his  withdrawal  from  the 
College  until  a  few  months  ago  when  prevented  by 
the  infirmities  of  age,  he  was  regular  in  his  attend- 
ance on  its  services,  was  in  proportion  to  his  means 
probably  the  most  generous  contributor  to  its  sup- 
port, and  by  many  a  kind  word  and  deed  encour- 
aged the  Pastor  in  his  labors.  To  this  Church  his 
death  is  an  irreparable  bereavement. 

His  last  appearance  in  public  was  at  the  after- 
dinner  meeting  of  the  Alumni  on  the  day  before 
Commencement.  It  was  the  seventieth  anniversary 
of  his  graduation.  He  was,  and  for  many  years  had 
been,  the  President  of  the  Alumni  Association.  The 
scene  of  thrilling  interest  occasioned  by  his  presence 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  it. 
When  he  entered  the  hall  leaning  on  the  arm  of  his 
friend  Dr.  Schanck,  the  whole  assembly  rose  and 
welcomed  him  with  cheers  which  continued,  increas- 
ing in  volume  and  enthusiasm,  until  he  was  seated, 
the  central  figure  on  the  platform.  He  was  unable 
to  respond,  but  a  brief  address  which  he  had  pre- 
pared was  at  his  request  read  by  Professor  Cameron. 
He  remained  for  a  litde  time,  and  when  he  rose  to 
retire  the  assembly  again  rose  and  remained  stand- 


30 

ing  in  respectful  silence  until  he  had  left  the  hall. 
Many  eyes  unused  to  weeping  were  wet  with  tears 
as  they  looked  for  the  last  time  on  his  venerable 
form.  Grateful  as  such  an  expression  of  the  respect 
and  affection  of  the  Alumni  must  have  been  to  him 
as  his  earthly  career  was  drawing  to  its  close,  the 
main  inducement  to  attend  the  meeting  was  not  the 
ovation  that  awaited  him.  At  the  risk  of  hastening 
the  end  which  he  knew  was  near,  he  was  present, 
that  in  his  farewell  address  to  the  Alumni  he  might 
once  more,  and  under  circumstances  calculated  to 
make  a  deep  and  lasting  impression,  record  the  fact 
that  the  College  of  New  Jersey  was  founded  for  the 
promotion  of  religion  as  well  as  learning,  and  to 
express  the  hope  and  prayer  that  the  design  of  the 
pious  founders  of  the  Institution  would  ever  be 
sacredly  regarded  by  those  to  whom  its  interests 
might  be  entrusted. 

Until  near  the  very  close  of  his  life  his  faculties 
continued  unimpaired.  He  looked  forward  to  death 
and  the  life  beyond  with  unclouded  faith  and  a 
blessed  hope.  He  had  fought  a  good  fight,  he 
had  finished  his  course,  he  had  kept  the  faith,  and 
he  was  "  ready  "  for  the  time  of  his  departure.  His 
end  was  painless  and  peaceful.  As  an  infant  in  a 
mother's  arms  he  fell  asleep  and  entered  into  rest. 
He  is  gone,  but  in  many  hearts  until  they  cease  to 
beat  his  memory  will  be  precious. 


31 

God  in  His  providence  to-day  is  repeating  the 
injunction  of  His  word,  "  Mark  the  perfect  man  and 
behold  the  upright  for  the  end  of  that  man  is  peace." 
Though  "dead  he  yet  speaketh."  Such  a  Hfe  and 
death  as  his  is  the  unanswerable  argument  for 
the  truth  of  our  holy  religion.  It  stands  the  test 
proposed  by  its  blessed  Founder — its  divinity  is 
demonstrated  by  such  fruits. 

That  voice  from  heaven  which  the  beloved  disci- 
ple heard  in  the  Apocalypse  is  saying  again  to  us 
to-day,  *'  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord 
— they  rest  from  their  labors  and  their  works  do 
follow  them." 

Who  will  not  join  me  in  the  prayer,  "  May  my 
last  end  be  like  his  ?  " 


ADDRESS 

OF 

THE  REV.  JAMES  M.  LUDLOW,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  the  Miinn  Avenue  Presbyterian  Church,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 


ADDRESS, 


I  appreciate  very  highly  the  honor  of  having 
been  selected  by  my  Alma  Mater  to  voice  the  loving 
respect  for  the  memory  of  Dr.  Maclean  which  fills 
all  our  hearts.  I  appreciate  also,  and  very  keenly, 
the  fact  that  I  cannot  do  justice  to  the  subject. 
Were  this  possible  under  any  circumstances,  the 
lateness  of  your  invitation  and  the  fact  that  Professor 
Duffield  has  already,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  funeral 
service,  delivered  an  eulogy  which  was  so  complete 
as  an  analysis  of  the  character  and  summary  of  the 
life  of  our  beloved  preceptor,  would  have  made  me 
hesitate  to  undertake  the  duty  of  to-night.  I  have, 
however,  overcome  this  feeling  by  the  thought  that 
no  one  who  knew  Dr.  Maclean  will  expect  me  to  do 
justice  to  his  memory,  any  more  than  a  son  is 
expected  to  do  justice  to  the  memory  of  his  father, 
when,  swayed  by  the  tide  of  grateful  recollections, 
he  looks  upon  the  dear  face  in  the  coffin,  and  says, 
"  How  I  loved  him  !  "     But  it  is  worth  comincr  back 

o 

to  Princeton  just  to  say  that  of  Dr.  Maclean. 


36 

And  however  Inadequate  my  words  may  be  in 
themselves,  they  gather  incalculable  meaning  in 
that  they  will  express  the  feeling  of  thousands  of 
livinor  eraduates  who  received  instruction  from  him, 
and  who,  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  from  the  high- 
est council  chambers  of  the  nation,  from  the  labora- 
tories of  science  and  the  retreats  of  philosophy,  from 
pulpits  and  court  rooms,  from  all  the  paths  of  pro- 
fessional and  commercial  life,  hall  his  name  with 
loving  recollections.  The  flowers  of  grateful  tribute 
come  in  such  profusion  that  no  one  can  arrange 
them  in  a  set  speech.  I  bring  a  few ;  but  our 
service,  like  Buddha's  bowl,  overflows  with  them. 

The  many  relations  which  Dr.  Maclean  sustained 
to  the  community,  as  professor  in  various  branches 
of  literature  and  science,  disciplinarian,  writer,  coun- 
sellor and  ecclesiastic,  made  many  impressions  of 
him  in  many  minds  ;  but  there  was  one  impression 
which  he  made  upon  everybody : — he  was  great  in 
his  goodness.  Whatever  else  I  may  have  to  say, 
with  this  I  must  begin,  and  to  this  I  must  revert ;  for 
his  goodness  gave  quality  to  everything  associated 
with  him.  It  was  to  his  other  characteristics  what  a 
racial  type  Is  to  the  features ;  the  common  stamp 
upon  them  all.  It  was  not  merely,  as  has  been  said, 
the  finest  bloom  of  his  manhood,  but  its  very  essence. 
If  you  read  the  formal  tributes  paid  to  his  memory 
by  various  corporate  bodies  with  which  he  was  con- 


37 

nected,  you  will  observe  that  they,  are  climacteric  in 
this  regard.  Thus  the  men  of  science  represented 
by  the  Smithsonian  Institute  recognize  his  service 
"in  the  cause  of  culture,  o{  truth  and  righteousness^ 
The  resolutions  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Col- 
lege express  appreciation  of  "  his  ability,  learning, 
benevole}ice,  kijidness  and  ajfectio)iy  His  moral  qual- 
ities were  to  his  other  traits  what  the  olow  is  to  the 

o 

various  hues  of  the  sunset,  giving  to  each  its  glory. 
But  I  must  note  some  of  the  hues  as  well  as  the 
glory.  Dr.  Maclean  was  of  marked  individuality  in 
many  respects.  His  personal  appearance  was  nota- 
ble. Dore's  delineation  of  Virgil  guiding  Dante 
through  the  shades  of  Inferno  was  not  more  unique 
than  that  tall,  straight  form,  its  angularity  broken  by 
flowing  hair  and  long  cloak,  which  our  imagination  still 
sees  moving  among  the  trees  of  the  campus.  Nature 
had  endowed  him  with  a  rare  physique.  His  muscles 
were  iron  and  his  nerves  steel ;  a  straight  inheritance 
of  the  Maclean  clan  that  swung  the  claymore  on  the 
Scottish  border.  And  woe  to  the  college  athlete 
who,  prowling  after  mischief  across  the  border  of 
propriety,  felt  his  grip!  Once,  after  he  had  turned 
his  seventieth  year,  a  stalwart  law-breaker  whom  he 
had  captured  and  brought  to  his  office  door,  there 
escaped  him.  The  venerable  man  looked  tor  a 
moment  at  the  vanishing-  form  of  the  student,  and 
then,  gazing  upon  his  own  hands,  as  it  loth  to  admit 


38 

the  fact  that  their  natural  force  was  abated,  with  a 
sigh,  said.  ''  Well,  I  didn't  think  it !  " 

Perhaps  Dr.  Maclean  never  knew  the  sensation 
of  physical  fear.  In  the  thickest  of  the  melee  be- 
tween the  ruffianism  of  town  and  college,  by  the 
lighted  fuse  which  was  to  explode  the  walls  of  Old 
North,  and  in  the  secret  caucus  of  disguised  despe- 
radoes, his  form  suddenly  appeared,  the  impersona- 
tion of  the  Gaelic  motto  of  the  Macleans,  "  Dreum 
Rioghail  do'  chiosnuicht  nach  striochdeadh  do  Shlu- 
aigh, — a  royal  clan  of  bravery  which  never  sur- 
renders to  a  multitude." 

Of  the  intellectual  character  of  Dr.  Maclean  It  Is 
not  easy  to  form  an  estimate.  The  circumstances 
of  the  College  forced  him  to  give  instruction  In  so 
many  departments  that  it  would  have  been  a  marvel 
if  he  had  found  additional  time  to  prove  his  genius 
In  any.  But  so  strong  and  facile  was  his  mental 
energy  that  it  developed  a  notable  degree  of  talent 
for  almost  every  subject  that  interested  him.  He 
was  able  to  hold  the  different  chairs  in  Princeton, 
not  through  your  mere  partiality  ;  for,  it  Is  now 
known — what  his  modesty  at  the  time  concealed — 
that  he  received  overtures  from  other  colleees  to  fill 
similar  professorships  with  them.  Dr.  Matthew  B. 
Hope,  than  whom  Princeton  never  had  a  shrewder 
judge  of  men,  used  to  say  that  had  Dr.  Maclean 
given   himself  to   any   particular  study   in   science, 


39 

philosophy  or  language,  he  would  easily  have  at- 
tained celebrity  in  it.  If  we  doubt  this,  we  may  find 
the  reason  for  the  failure  of  Dr.  Maclean  to  become 
a  master  In  specialty,  not  In  the  lack  of  special 
ability,  but  rather  in  the  possession  of  certain  other 
intellectual  impulses  which  made  his  thoughts  over- 
flow any  single  channel.  He  saw  too  many  things, 
if  not  at  once,  yet  in  quick  succession,  and  was  im- 
patient of  one-threaded  continuity.  There  were  too 
many  windows  In  his  mind  to  show  a  ray  through 
the  keyhole ;  yet  the  keyhole  ray — as  good  Prof. 
Alexander  used  to  show  us  in  the  laboratory — would 
reveal  mysteries  which  wide  windows  could  not.  A 
specialist  not  only  focuses  mental  light  upon  his 
theme;  sometimes  he  must  exclude  light.  If  Dr. 
Maclean  lacked  any  intellectual  equipment,  It  was, 
perhaps,  of  the  nature  of  adjustable  shutters.  His 
mind  was  like  an  ancient  temple,  open  to  the  sky. 
He  was,  moreover,  of  that  practical  turn  of  talent 
which  requires  an  Idea  to  be  run  Into  definite  shape, 
to  become  solidified  in  fact,  in  order  to  be  long  re- 
tained In  interest.  These,  a  wise  critic  observes, 
are  the  qualities  of  a  born  ruler,  a  commander  of 
men,  who  catches  Ideas  quickly,  but  needs  power  to 
execute  them.  Heinrlch  Heine  called  Bonaparte  "a 
wide-eyed  man"  who  could  "see  the  whole  things  of 
the  world,  while  we  others  can  only  see  them  one  by 
one,  and   then   only  in  shadow."      But  that   "wide 


40 

eye"  would  have  thoroughly  penetrated  no  depart- 
ment of  knowledee  had  circumstances  settled  him 
as  a  professor  in  the  school  of  Brienne,  instead  of 
thrustino-  him  out  amid  the  whirl  of  "affairs."  Carnot 
said  that  Bonaparte  could  not  have  made  a  scientific 
man.  Perhaps  the  same  was  true  of  Dr.  Maclean  ; 
if  so,  for  the  same  reason. 

But  he  could  have  commanded  men.  At  first  it 
seems  an  odd  fancy,  that  of  Dr.  Maclean  doffing  the 
gown  and  donning  the  military  cloak.  But,  having 
been  once  suggested,  the  fancy  grows  less  fanciful. 
His  face,  while  suffused  with  benignity,  had  the 
Cromwellian  square  brow,  and  straight  Caesar-lips 
formed  for  short  crisp  sentences.  His  frame  was 
full  of  nervous  impulse  which  could  not  endure  the 
quiet  of  the  study  when  there  was  need  for  a  proc- 
tor's service  out  of  doors.  One  can  imagine  that 
long  white  hair  floating  on  the  wind  in  a  cavalry 
charge  ;  though  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  it  fly- 
ing before  any  enemy. 

In  council  Dr.  Maclean  was  eminently  wise. 
One  intimately  associated  with  him  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  college  says,  that  he  saw  almost  intui- 
tively what  would  prove  in  the  long  run  the  best 
policy,  though  he  lacked — or  disliked  to  use  with 
the  noble  men  associated  with  him — what  we  ordi- 
narily call  "  policy,"  in  leading  others  to  second  him. 
He  did  not  seem  to  appreciate   the   adage,   '*  The 


41 

longest  way  round  is  the  shortest  woy  home  ;  "  but 
struck  out  across  fields  on  the  straight  Hne  of  definite 
statement  of  whatever  was  in  his  mind.  He  failed 
to  accomplish  many  of  his  purposes  because  others 
did  not  appreciate  them.  Had  he  been  in  untram- 
meled  authority  many  of  the  best  things  the  college 
has  done  would  have  been  done  much  sooner. 

As  an  illustration  of  his  astuteness  in  this  respect, 
I  may  instance  Dr.  Maclean's  relation  to  the  Public 
School  system  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  In  January, 
1828,  he  delivered  in  the  College  chapel,  before  the 
New  Jersey  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  an 
address  which  he  entitled  "  A  Proposition  for  a 
Common  School  System."  At  the  time  the  State 
appropriated  annually  ^15,000  for  educational  pur- 
poses. With  this  sum,  and  without  definite  system, 
of  course  next  to  nothing  was  accomplished.  Dr. 
Maclean  urged  that  this  appropriation  should  be 
used  only  as  a  sort  of  bounty  to  stimulate  the 
various  townships  to  raise  money  themselves  ;  and 
that  laws  be  enacted  enabling  the  towns  to  tax 
themselves  to  any  amount  for  this  purpose,  so  that 
suitable  buildings  might  be  erected  everywhere;  the 
appointment  of  a  Board  of  Education,  with  a  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction  ;  the  foundinj^  of  a 
State  Normal  School  for  the  special  training  of 
teachers  ;  etc.  He  insisted  that  the  schools  should 
be  absolutely  non-sectarian, — in  his  words,  "  There 


42 

should  be  in  no  case  the  least  Interference  with  the 
rii^hts  of  conscience,  and  no  scholar  should  be  re- 
quired to  attend  to  any  lesson  relating  to  morals  or 
religion,  to  which  his  parents  may  be  opposed." 
Within  the  year  after  this  address  was  delivered, 
the  Legislature  took  the  Initiative  of  the  present 
Common  School  system,  which  is  built  closely  upon 
Dr.  Maclean's  idea;  and  the  first  township  that 
availed  itself  of  the  new  system  did  so  in  response 
to  his  personal  appeal  to  its  citizens.  It  Is  pleasant 
and  significant  to  note  that  this  important  proposi- 
tion regarding  Public  Schools  came  from  the  College 
devoted  to  higher  learning  ;  and  that  this  appeal  on 
behalf  of  the  liberty  of  every  citizen  to  have  his 
children  educated  without  religious  bias  that  offend- 
ed his  conscience,  was  made  In  the  chapel  of  Nassau 
Hall,  a  place  supposed.  In  that  day,  to  be  conse- 
crated to  Presbyterian  orthodoxy.  Princeton  has 
been  accused  of  Puritanism;  but  It  was  evidently 
more  of  the  Roger  Williams  type  than  that  of  the 
fathers  about  Massachusetts  Bay. 

Dr.  Maclean  possessed  a  rare  faculty  for  measur- 
ing men,  and  was  seldom  deceived  in  an  estimate  of 
either  ability  or  character.  At  a  time  when  he  him- 
self constituted  at  least  one-half  of  the  Faculty,  and 
when  the  state  of  the  finances  and  repute  of  the 
college  raised  the  question  of  abandoning  the  enter- 
prise, Prof.  Maclean  saw  that  the  institution  would 


43 

be  saved  only  by  securing  a  corps  of  instructors 
whose  recognized  ability  would  make  it  worth  sav- 
ing. That  "  wide  eye"  of  his  detected  the  latent 
possibilities  of  such  young  men  as  Joseph  Henry, 
Albert  Dod,  and  John  Torrey  ;  and  he  secured  them 
for  Princeton.  He  thus  attracted  public  attention  to 
this  place  as  a  centre  of  scientific  and  literary,  as 
well  as  theological  light.  It  has  been  well  said  that  in 
view  of  his  shrewd  and  accurate  judgment,  and  his 
self-sacrificing  devotion  at  the  time  of  the  prostration 
of  the  College,  in  the  decade  from  1822-32,  the  then 
young  Prof.  Maclean  was  the  second  founder  of 
Nassau  Hall  ;  and  the  honors  of  the  Presidency 
which  afterward  came  to  him,  were  given  as  much 
in  grateful  recognition  of  what  he  had  already  done, 
as  in  hope  of  his  coming  service. 

There  was  somethinor  ominous  in  his  estimate  of 
the  future  careers  of  the  young  men  whom  he  studied 
in  the  class  room.  As  I  think  of  my  college  mates 
in  their  present  positions,  some  of  honor  and  others 
of  uselessness  through  indolence  or  dissipation,  I 
recall  a  conversation  which  took  place  at  the  house 
of  a  trustee,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  in  which 
Dr.  Maclean  acted  informally  as  Class  Prophet. 
His  words  have  proved  oracular.  He  knew  us 
undergraduates  as  well  as  we  knew  one  another.  I 
have  seen  a  letter  written  to  him  by  an  undergradu- 
ate, detailing  the  habits  of  certain  students.     On  it 


44 

is  written  in  the  Dr.'s  hand,  "  I  suppose  that  I  know 
these  men  better  than  my  informant  does."  Many 
a  student  has  repented  the  folly  of  imagining  that 
he  had  deceived  him,  and  of  interpreting  his  leniency 
as  blindness  to  faults.  We  remember  how  he  used 
his  spectacles  for  mirrors  as  well  as  lenses,  and  saw 
us  in  the  class  room  when  he  was  facing  another 
direction;  which  thing  is  an  allegory  of  the  way  he 
inspected  our  characters  and  lives  when  we  were 
least  suspicious  of  it.  A  thoroughly  good  man  is 
gifted  with  a  sort  of  moral  clairvoyance.  Some  are 
as  sensitive  to  the  approach  of  a  person  of  sinister 
motives  as  a  photographer's  plate  is  to  whatever 
obstructs  the  light.  Dr.  Maclean's  dislike  for  some 
persons  was  similar  to  that  accredited  to  Gen'l 
Washington  for  a  certain  young  officer.  He  would 
say  nothing  against  him,  except  when  he  felt  the 
hazards  of  the  military  service  required  that  he  should 
warn  his  fellow-officers, — "  Put  no  trust  in  him  in 
matters  of  emergency."  The  young  man's  name 
was  Aaron  Burr.  A  student  might  cloak  himself  in 
hypocrisy  so  as  to  escape  detection  by  most  others, 
but  he  could  not  indurate  himself  in  his  deception, 
so  that  the  fine  moral  maenet  in  Dr.  Maclean's 
nature  would  not  feel  him. 

This  leads  me  to  speak  more  definitely  of  some 
of  the  moral  traits  of  our  preceptor. 


45 

He  was  sincerity  itself:  not  simple-minded,  but 
single-minded;  many  sided  as  a  crystal,  but  with 
each  facet  so  truly  cut  that  they  all  focused  at  the 
centre — in  his  heart.  We  may  say  that  the  lens  of 
his  soul  was  achromatic :  it  did  not  even  ravel  the 
edge  of  the  light  that  came  through  it,  but  let  it  fall 
in  pure  white  radiance  upon  everything.  No  man 
ever  realized  more  fully  Shakspeare's  description, 

"  His  words  are  bonds,  his  oaths  are  oracles  ; 
His  love  sincere,  his  thoughts  immaculate  ; 
His  tears  pure  messengers,  sent  from  his  heart; 
His  heart  as  far  from  fraud  as  heaven  from  earth." 

He  prized  the  same  sincerity  in  others.  In  deal- 
ing with  students  he  was  especially  anxious  that 
nothing,  even  in  the  severest  discipline,  should 
tempt  them  to  dissimulation  ;  to  grow  the  moss  in 
the  clear  crystal  of  the  soul's  sense  of  honor.  An 
illustration  of  this  occurs  in  his  history  of  the  College, 
where  he  condemns  the  action  of  the  Faculty  in  re- 
quiring a  student  under  censure  for  misconduct, 
before  restoration  to  '*  admit  that  the  discipline  in- 
flicted by  the  Faculty  was  just."  Dr.  Maclean 
objects  that  the  Faculty  might  not  be  infallible  in 
their  judgment,  and,  therefore,  must  not  ask  from  the 
student  so  much  as  a  word  which  does  not  come 
spontaneous!)-  from  his  conscience. 

This  thorough  sincerity  was  associated  naturally 
with   the    keenest   sense   of  honor.     His   soul   was 


46 

chivalric.  For  example,  however  much  he  needed 
detailed  information  of  the  conduct  of  the  students, 
he  invariably  refused  to  be  assisted  by  any  one  who, 
in  giving  assistance,  stooped  from  the  highest  dignity 
of  self-respect,  or  strained  the  tie  of  courtesy  which 
bound  him  to  his  fellow-students.  I  have  seen  an 
anonymous  letter  written  to  Dr.  Maclean  by  an 
officious  student,  exposing  the  irregularities  of  some 
of  his  companions.  The  letter  was  preserved,  per- 
haps for  the  purpose  of  identifying  the  hand-writing. 
Let  us  hope  for  the  writer's  sake  that  he  was  never 
discovered ;  for  across  the  bottom  of  the  page  is 
written  in  good  round  letters,  "  A  witness  too  cow- 
ardly to  come  to  me,  and  give  his  name.  (Signed,) 
John  Maclean."  With  such  white-livered  reformers 
the  President  would  have  nothing  to  do. 

Dr.  Maclean  was  a  philanthropist.  Every  grand 
and  humane  movement  had  his  practical  sympathy. 
But  his  philanthropy  was  of  an  unusual  kind.  There 
is  a  vague,  vapory,  world-embracing  sentimentalism, 
that  delivers  orations,  writes  poetry  and  outlines 
schemes  for  the  amelioration  of  the  race,  but  does 
not  see  a  next  door  neighbor's  needs ;  a  great  mist 
that  never  condenses  into  the  bright  refreshing  rain 
drops,  but  hangs  above  the  parched  field  of  human 
want,  the  sign  to  knowing  ones  of  continued  drought. 
Dr.  Maclean's  philanthropy  was  not  of  this  sort,  but 
of  the   divine  kind  spoken    of  in  Scripture,  which 


47 

"  drops  fatness  upon  the  pastures  of  the  wilderness." 
If  he  sat  in  the  Board  of  Direction  of  the  Coloniza- 
tion Society  for  sending  negroes  to  Africa,  he  also 
saw  to  it  that  an  old  and  decrepit  colored  man  got 
his  breakfast  every  morning  from  his  table.  To 
help  the  colored  church  in  Princeton  he  involved 
himself  in  financial  embarrassment.  He  was  a 
patron  of  the  American  Bible  Society;  but  he  was 
also  a  Bible  Society  by  himself,  and  had  the 
Scriptures  translated  into  German  for  distribution 
among  the  Germans  of  this  neighborhood.  He 
was  a  Tract  Society  also,  for  he  paid  for  the 
publication  of  many  tracts,  and  distributed  them 
with  his  own  hand.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Prison 
Association  ;  and  frequently  walked  from  Princeton 
to  Trenton  on  Sabbath  morning  to  preach  to  the 
convicts  in  the  State  Prison.  He  was  a  great  advo- 
cate of  making  the  College  especially  the  nursery 
of  young  men  for  the  ministry.  But  his  charity  was 
wider  than  his  ecclesiastical  interest,  so  he  founded 
the  Princeton  Charitable  Institution  to  help  worthy 
young  men  without  regard  to  the  profession  they 
might  choose,  and  prevent  any  from  being  even 
tempted  to  enroll  themselves  for  the  ministry  that 
thereby  they  might  secure  a  liberal  education.  For  a 
time  he  was  this  Charitable  Institution,  its  brain  and 
heart  and  purse,  until  those  of  greater  means  were 
stimulated  by  his  self-denying  example  to  become  its 


48 

patrons.  There  was  a  wreath  upon  his  coffin,  sent 
from  afar,  every  leaf  of  It  an  immortelle  of  some 
fadeless  memory  of  his  kindness,  as  many  years  ago 
four  young  men,  strangers  to  Princeton,  found  Dr. 
Maclean's  house  their  home,  and  himself  a  father. 

Now  we  have  the  explanation  of  that  saying  of 
the  elder  Hodge,  that  Dr.  Maclean  was  "  the  most 
loved  man  in  America."  He  was  loved  by  more 
people  because  he  loved  more  people  individually, 
and  held  them  by  gratitude  for  personal  favors. 
I  said  to  a  prominent  man  a  few  days  since,  "  You 
knew  Dr.  Maclean  well  ?  "  "  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  very 
well.  I  knew  him  as  a  scholar ;  I  knew  him  as  a 
wise  counsellor;  but  best  of  all  I  knew  him  by  his 
goodness  to  me."  I  quote  the  words,  not  because 
they  are  peculiar,  but  because  there  are  hundreds 
of  persons  who  can  say  the  same  thing.  He  held 
multitudes  not  by  any  glamour  of  general  reputation, 
by  the  fascination  of  glowing  abilities,  by  the  renown 
of  public  position ;  but  each  one  by  a  separate  thread 
of  personal  admiration  and  gratefulness.  The  motto 
of  his  life  was  the  last  sentence  that  fell  from  the 
lips  of  his  dying  mother.  I  have  been  allowed  to 
read  a  letter  written  to  his  brother  six  or  seven  years 
ago.  It  was  to  be  opened  only  after  his  decease ; 
and  left  to  his  brother  the  charfre  of  seeing  that  a 
certain  student,  if  he  had  not  completed  his  educa- 
tion at  the  time  of  the  Doctor's  death,  should  have 


49 

received  several  hundred  dollars  to  defray  his  college 
expenses.  He  ends  the  letter,  as  I  am  permitted  to 
quote,  ''  You  remember,  the  last  words  of  our 
mother  were,  '  Be  kind  to  everybody.' "  Great  heart ! 
he  was  kind  to  everybody;  and  everybody  loved 
him  as  naturally  as  everything  reflects  the  sunshine. 
One  delicate  feature  of  his  kindliness  I  and 
every  old  graduate  can  witness  to.  He  always 
tried  to  keep  fresh  the  memory  of  his  own  feeling  as 
a  student.  His  venerable  years,  the  dignity  of  the 
Presidency,  the  necessities  of  discipline,  these  could 
not  prevent  him  from  putting  himself  in  the  young 
man's  place.  By  the  way,  that  modern  adage  of 
charity,  "  Put  yourself  in  his  place,"  is  far  surpassed 
by  an  ancient  one.  St.  Hildegarde  used  to  say,  "  I 
put  my  soul  within  your  soul."  Old  Dr.  Maclean 
put  his  soul  within  the  soul  of  the  young  man,  if 
ever  a  man  did.  He  felt  for  us  as  boys  ;  he  felt  us; 
he  felt  himself  in  us.  He  saw  more  wisely  than  we, 
but  he  saw  from  the  standpoint  of  our  interest  and 
our  impulses.  In  cases  of  misconduct  he  saw  clearly 
that  the  evil  motive  might  have  been  little,  and 
disorder  been  due  to  the  drift  of  the  circum- 
stances of  our  college  life,  to  thoughtlessness,  or  the 
mere  impulse  of  fun.  Even  where  real  depravity 
may  have  been  at  the  bottom  of  irregularities,  he 
recognized  the  point  where  the  wicked  intent  might 
have  exhausted  itself  or  been  checked  by  its  own 


so 

consequences,  as  an  overflow  of  water  is  sometimes 
checked  by  its  own  deposit.  He  watched  for  the 
moment  when  the  wayward  purpose  might  be  turned 
back  to  its  legitimate  channel.  Hence  his  discipline, 
though  often  criticized  by  outsiders,  generally  proved 
the  right  thing  for  the  subject  of  it.  An  illustration 
will  show  this.  Many  years  ago  two  young  men 
were  playing  cards  after  midnight.  There  was  a 
knock  at  the  door.  The  pack  was  hastily  gathered 
up.  A  comrade  glided  behind  the  closet  door.  The 
occupant  of  the  room  became  the  picture  of  the  con- 
sumer of  the  midnight  tallow  as  he  bent  wearily 
over  his  books.  The  President  entered.  "  You 
were  playing  cards,  sir?  "  "  No,  sir,"  was  the  hesi- 
tating reply.  The  Doctor  raised  a  coat  from  the 
table,  and  held  in  his  hand  the  winning  card  in  that 
game  between  himself  and  the  student.  His  lantern 
as  quickly  revealed  the  abashed  features  of  the  man 
behind  the  closet  door.  My  informant,  the  man 
behind  the  door,  says  that  the  fear  of  expulsion 
from  college  was  nothing  compared  with  the  sense 
of  shame  that  came  upon  him,  as  the  Doctor  looked 
from  one  to  the  other,  and  quietly  said,  "  Good-night, 
gentlemen  !  "  They  were  never  summoned  for  dis- 
cipline. "  We  didn't  need  it,"  says  my  friend,  now 
one  of  the  most  useful  and  honored  men  in  the  land ; 
"  that  look  of  Dr.  Maclean,  so  righteous  against  our 
sin  and  so  pitiful  for  our  weakness,  had  in  it  more 


51 

disciplinary  force  than  any  formal  punishment  could 
have  had ;  and  Dr.  Maclean  knew  it.  He  just  left 
us  hanging  there  in  the  contempt  of  our  own 
thoughts.  Though  I  hadn't  lied,  I  went  to  my  room 
with  such  a  feeling  that  I  vowed  I  would  never  play 
a  game  of  cards  again  ;  and  I  don't  believe  my  com- 
rade ever  told  another  lie  so  long  as  he  lived." 
When  I  heard  this  story  I  could  not  help  thinking  of 
our  Lord's  reclaiming  Peter  with  a  look ! 

Dr.  Maclean  had  the  rare  faculty  of  administer- 
ing discipline  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  alienate  the 
offender.  They  came  to  love  him  best  who  had 
reason  to  fear  him  most.  He  was  so  manifestly 
just  that  he  gripped  the  delinquent  by  his  conscience, 
and  then  embraced  him  with  his  love.  There  is 
something  not  only  Christian,  but  peculiarly  Christ- 
like, in  that.  A  student  who  had  been  rusticated 
says  that  he  spent  the  weeks  chiefly  in  fishing  and 
thinking  what  a  good  man  Dr.  Maclean  was.  Some 
of  us  old  fellows  who  shouted  loudest  a  year  ago 
when  that  venerable  form  was  lifted  for  the  last  time 
to  the  platform  at  Alumni  dinner, — who  shouted  first 
and  cried  afterward, — put  a  meaning  into  our  action 
which  nobody  but  Dr.  Maclean  and  ourselves  knew. 
There  were  secrets  between  us  which  he  was  too 
good  ever  to  tell,  and  which,  perhaps,  we  were 
ashamed  to.  His  full  biography  will  never  be  writ- 
ten.    Its  materials  would  have  to  be  gathered  from 


52 

too  many  hearts.  For  it  we  must  wait  until  we  are 
together  In  that  clear  revelatory  light  of  heaven, 
where  our  sins  are  so  thoroughly  cleansed  In  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  our  preceptor's  praise  so 
thoroughly  merged  In  the  praise  of  His  Master,  that 
we  shall  be  willing  to  have  It  all  come  out. 

Of  his  relation  to  the  Faculty  of  the  College,  It 
is  not  my  place  to  speak.  I  talk  of  him  only  from  the 
standpoint  of  a  student's  memories.  The  fragrance 
of  the  thousand  loving  thoughts  which  fill  the  hearts 
of  these  noble  men  who  were  with  him  in  the  Faculty 
must  be  caught  in  the  phial  of  other  words  than 
mine.  But  I  may  say  that  two  of  the  professors 
have  to-day  used  In  my  hearing  the  same  expression, 
"  Dr.  Maclean  was  the  best  friend  I  ever  had." 

His  relation  to  the  College  after  his  resignation 
as  President,  as  described  to  me,  Is  a  most  beautiful 
illustration  of  his  great  heartedness.  When  he  re- 
signed, he  resigned  altogether ;  demitting  every- 
thing except  his  love  and  loyalty,  which  he  could  not 
demit,  for  they  were  parts  of  his  life.  From  Presi- 
dent he  became  in  an  instant  only  patron.  Things 
were  to  be  different, — as  it  was  Intended  his  distin- 
guished successor  should  make  them  different, — but 
Dr.  Maclean  would  not  criticise.  He  saw  his  own 
image  and  superscription  no  longer  upon  the  coin 
that  was  issued,  but,  for  its  gold's  sake,  he  valued 
the  coin  not  a  grain  less ; — and  we  will  keep  the  old 
coin  always  In  circulation  with  the  new.     It  takes 


more  than  ordinary  generosity  to  rclinciiilsh  tlie  reins 
of  control,  all  at  once  ;  for  tlu!  finoers  become  shaped 
to  them.  Moses  could  sini^  a  song  as  he  turned 
over  affairs  to  Joshua,  who  should  lead  the  people 
into  a  land,  he  himself  could  not  enter.  So  Dr. 
Maclean's  last  years  were  a  song  of  praise  for  the 
prosperity  he  was  privileged  to  look  upon.  I  am 
permitted  to  lay  upon  his  memory  a  beautiful  tribute 
— the  most  delicate  of  my  offerings.  It  is  a  sentence 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  McCosh  : — 

**  Dr.  Maclean's  whole  conduct  towards  me  was 
ever  delicately  kind;  and  my  wish  for  myself  is  that 
I  may  receive  half  the  kindly  affection  which  he  did 
from  his  pupils  on  his  retiring  from  his  work  in  this 
College." 

I  had  marked  as  a  separate  head  to  speak  upon, 
Dr.  Maclean's  religious  character.  Hut  have  I  not 
been  talking  of  his  religious  character  in  all  I  have 
said  ?  He  put  his  religion  into  everything  he  did. 
All  his  graces  came  from  the  one  pervading  grace 
of  the  Divine  Spirit.  But  allow  me  to  refer  to  his 
conversion.  He  always  had  an  intellectual  faith  in 
Christ.  His  childhood  home, like  a  tent  in  the  ancient 
camp  of  Israel,  opened  toward  the  Tabernacle  of 
God's  covenant,  and  he  was  as  familiar  with  religious 
truths  as  the  Israelites  were  with  the  smoke  of  the 
altar  that  canopied  the  sacred  structure.  The  occa- 
sion of  his  definite  thoughtfulness  upon  the  subject 
of  his  personal  relation  to  God    Dr.    Duffield   has 


54 

already  related.  He  did  not  make  a  public  confes- 
sion of  his  faith  until  two  years  after  his  undoubted 
conversion.  We  have  here  an  illustration  of  Dr. 
Maclean's  susceptibility  to  quick  and  deep  reli- 
gious feeling,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  caution 
and  patience  with  which  he  examined  his  own 
emotions,  to  see  if  they  were  grounded  in  as 
deep  conviction  of  substantiable  truth.  The  feeling 
which  came  so  easily  to  his  eyes  and  lips  was  no 
surface  sentiment,  but  experience  which,  like  the 
water  of  a  mountain  lake,  had  worked  its  way  up 
through  many  hidden  veins  of  profoundest  thought. 
His  religious  life  was  not  a  series  of  impulses,  but  a 
steady  flow,  like  that  of  a  river,  deep  in  its  experi- 
ence, wide  in  its  charity,  all  agleam  with  beauty,  and 
bearing  beneficence  to  everything  that  came  in  con- 
tact with  it ;  a  life  which  in  all  its  vicissitudes,  sought 
God's  glory  as  constantly  as  the  stream  in  its  wind- 
ings seeks  the  sea  ;  a  life  that  now  is  lost  in  the 
glory  that  it  sought ! 

But  I  must  stop.  One  lesson  only  I  press  out 
from  these  many  memories  of  Dr.  Maclean  ;  one 
gleam  comes  back  from  that  glory  into  which  he  has 
entered,  to  guide  us  thither.  It  is  this  thought — the 
greatness  of  goodness. 

In  the  early  barbarism  of  the  race  men  revered 
physical  prowess.  Pagan  civilization  esteemed  intel- 
lectual culture.  Christianity  has  crowned  character. 
But  how  easy  the  relapse  to  Paganism,  to  Barbar- 


55 

ism,  as  In  France  from  cliaractcr  to  culture,  and  from 
culture  to  the  "  rehabilitation  of  the  flesh  !  "  It  is  a 
significant  thing  that  a  great  literary  institution  like 
this  puts  its  freshest  laurel  around  the  brow  of  good- 
ness. Integrity  makes  a  man  an  integer,  without 
which,  whatever  may  be  his  genius  or  scholarship  he  is 
but  a  fraction.  To  exalt  one  without  virtue,  as  Car- 
lyle  puts  it,  only  to  enlarge  his  denominator  and  be- 
little himself  We  may  go  further,  and  doubt  if  even 
the  intellect  can  be  trained  to  see  far  on  straight  lines 
of  truth  if  there  be  not  back  of  it  the  purpose  of 
moral  rectitude.  One  of  the  ancients  said,  "The  soul 
of  the  good  is  pure  unmixed  light;  the  soul  of  the 
evil-disposed  a  dark  vapor  through  which  nothing 
appears  undimmed  or  undistorted."  This  is  on  the 
line  of  Jesus'  words,  "The  pure  in  heart  shall  see 
God;  "  and  in  proportion  to  purity  only  can  we  see 
the  truth  as  it  lies  in  the  direction  of  God.  Behold 
Horace  Bushnell,  wrestling  with  the  problem  of  life 
and  destiny,  and  finding  no  solution  :  then  falling 
back  upon  this, — "  One  thing  I  do  know,  that  right 
is  right ;  "  and  getting  upon  his  knees  he  vows  to  do 
the  right.  Then,  says  his  biographer,  "  he  rose  with 
a  star  upon  his  brow." 

It  is  only  the  good  that  the  world  cares  to  remem- 
ber. A  young  man  not  knowing  the  world,  says, 
"I  will  perpetuate  my  memory  by  the  glow  ol  my 
ability."  But  nothing  so  soon  fades  from  sight  as 
mere   useless  ability,   the    flare    of  genius.      liven 


56 

Pharos,  the  wonder  of  the  world,  went  out  when 
they  forgot  to  bring  fuel.  Another  says,  "  I  will  do 
something  that  men  will  not  forget.  I  will  build  my 
monument  of  deeds."  But  nature  itself  seems  jealous 
men  who  make  monuments  to  themselves.  Desert 
sands  obliterate  stately  cities,  and  the  silent  passing  of 
the  centuries  rubs  down  the  pyramids.  It  has  been 
observed,  however,  that  the  most  abiding  evidences 
of  man's  occupancy  of  the  earth  are  wells.  Those 
dug  by  unknown  herdsmen  in  prehistoric  times  are 
flowing  yet,  as  Jacob's  well  invites  the  villager  of 
Nablous,  and  those  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  draw  the 
Bedawin  and  his  herds  to  Beersheeba.  Open  a 
vein  of  beneficence,  and  mother  earth  will  keep  it 
flowing  for  the  nourishment  of  her  children.  So  a 
good  deed  opens  the  heart  of  the  Eternal,  who  is 
Love.  His  nature,  and  that  means  all  nature,  is  on 
our  side.  He  who  inscribes  himself  in  the  Divine 
remembrance  need  not  fear  to  be  forgotten  of  men. 
The  Psalmist  says,  "  I  have  seen  the  wicked  in 
great  power,  spreading  himself  like  a  green  bay  tree. 
Yet  he  passed  away,  and  lo!  he  was  not;  yea  I 
sought  him,  but  he  could  not  be  found.  Mark  the 
perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright ;  for  the  end  of 
that  man  is  peace." — Literally,  "  Futurity  belongeth 
to  that  man  of  peace."  The  good  never  die.  So 
our  service  to-night  is  not  a  mere  memorial  of  a 
good  life  that  is  spent.  It  is  the  salutation  of  a  good 
man  who  has  passed  just  beyond  our  sight. 


